Speakout is Truthout's treasure chest for bloggy, quirky, personally reflective, or especially activism-focused pieces. Speakout articles represent the perspectives of their authors, and not those of Truthout.

On October 9, 200 of us marched along the dusty highway between Nogales and Tucson toward the Border Patrol checkpoint just north of Tubac, Arizona. At the front, those of us prepared to risk arrest clutched painted crosses in our hands, each bearing the name of someone murdered by US-trained assassins or the militarized US-Mexico border. The desert sun beat mercilessly on our linked arms as we sang: I see/I see/No immigration police/No checkpoints/No fear/The world we want is right here.

Fifteen years ago, on October 19, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld addressed B-2 bomber crews at Whiteman AFB in Missouri, as they prepared to fly halfway across the world to wreak misdirected vengeance on the people of Afghanistan and begin the longest war in US history. Rumsfeld told the bomber crews: "We have two choices. Either we change the way we live, or we must change the way they live. We choose the latter. And you are the ones who will help achieve that goal."

Watching US politics these past months, culminating in the revelation of Donald Trump's disgusting comments about women who he groped, I was overwhelmed by the sense of how much US politics needs a fundamental reorientation. We need a New Bottom Line of love and generosity that could reshape every dimension of our economic, political, cultural and spiritual assumptions about reality. To get there, we need a fundamental transformation of consciousness.

As October 10 approaches, many cities in the Unites States will revisit what has become an annual dialogue about whether or not cities, states and other municipalities should abolish Columbus Day in favor of celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day. More than a dozen cities nationwide have now codified the notion that the lives and humanity of Indigenous people should be recognized and celebrated, and that the tired, mythical depictions of Columbus as a heroic explorer should be put to rest.

Three years ago this week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case about the influence of wealthy donors in our elections. It wasn't the well-known (and much-criticized) Citizens United case, but the arguments in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ultimately explain what's wrong with how we treat the influence of money in politics. Prior to McCutcheon v. FEC, no one contributor could give more than $125,000 in total campaign contributions to federal candidates. Very few Americans can even consider contributing more than $125,000 to politicians. Yet in 2013, Shaun McCutcheon, a coal industry CEO, challenged the law as violating his "freedom of speech."

People living near a contaminated government nuclear reactor complex in California were outraged to learn that the US Department of Energy (DOE) has secretly been funding a front group that is lobbying to see the agency abandon its cleanup agreement -- and that the DOE's request for secrecy may have been made to avoid attention from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California), who supports full cleanup.

As United States Energy Transfers Partners began building the Dakota Access Pipeline through territory sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, the tribe began an escalating campaign against the pipeline. By this summer nearly 200 tribes around the country had passed resolutions opposing the pipeline and many hundreds of their members joined nonviolent direct action to halt it. Amidst wide public sympathy for the Native American cause, environmental, climate protection, human rights, and many other groups joined the campaign. On September 9, the Obama administration intervened to temporarily halt the pipeline and open government-to-government consultations with the tribes.

Riohacha, La Guajira -- On October 2, 2016, the people of Colombia voted in a referendum to approve the peace accords brokered over four years by the government of President Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP). In the regions most affected by the conflict in Colombia, the victims forgave and voted "yes," hoping to open the doors for the much-sought-after peace. Some understood that to forgive does not mean to forget; rather, it is a step forward towards the construction of a different reality. In the Caribbean coast of Colombia, there was a resounding "yes" to peace. Nevertheless, the campaign managed by the so-called Democracy Center, spearheaded by ex-President Alvaro Uribe Velez took hold.

As the cost of health insurance and care continues to go up with little restraint by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the insurance industry is getting ever more creative in finding new revenue streams to cover gaps in coverage. The latest new market is to offer insurance to cover the cost of insurance. High deductibles have become a growing burden of out-of-pocket expenses for individuals, families, and employers. As one marker, deductibles for employer-sponsored health insurance have gone up by 255 percent over the last ten years.

A group of servers who serenade patrons at Time Square's Ellen's Stardust Diner have now formed a union with -- wait for it -- the Wobblies (a nickname for the Industrial Workers of the World). After they unionized earlier this year as Stardust Family United, owner Ken Strum essentially said, "Dream on," and wrecked the lives of more than 30 staffers by firing them. Now they are picketing outside the venue weekly while singing old union and railroad songs.

Speakout is Truthout's treasure chest for bloggy, quirky, personally reflective, or especially activism-focused pieces. Speakout articles represent the perspectives of their authors, and not those of Truthout.

On October 9, 200 of us marched along the dusty highway between Nogales and Tucson toward the Border Patrol checkpoint just north of Tubac, Arizona. At the front, those of us prepared to risk arrest clutched painted crosses in our hands, each bearing the name of someone murdered by US-trained assassins or the militarized US-Mexico border. The desert sun beat mercilessly on our linked arms as we sang: I see/I see/No immigration police/No checkpoints/No fear/The world we want is right here.

Fifteen years ago, on October 19, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld addressed B-2 bomber crews at Whiteman AFB in Missouri, as they prepared to fly halfway across the world to wreak misdirected vengeance on the people of Afghanistan and begin the longest war in US history. Rumsfeld told the bomber crews: "We have two choices. Either we change the way we live, or we must change the way they live. We choose the latter. And you are the ones who will help achieve that goal."

Watching US politics these past months, culminating in the revelation of Donald Trump's disgusting comments about women who he groped, I was overwhelmed by the sense of how much US politics needs a fundamental reorientation. We need a New Bottom Line of love and generosity that could reshape every dimension of our economic, political, cultural and spiritual assumptions about reality. To get there, we need a fundamental transformation of consciousness.

As October 10 approaches, many cities in the Unites States will revisit what has become an annual dialogue about whether or not cities, states and other municipalities should abolish Columbus Day in favor of celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day. More than a dozen cities nationwide have now codified the notion that the lives and humanity of Indigenous people should be recognized and celebrated, and that the tired, mythical depictions of Columbus as a heroic explorer should be put to rest.

Three years ago this week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case about the influence of wealthy donors in our elections. It wasn't the well-known (and much-criticized) Citizens United case, but the arguments in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ultimately explain what's wrong with how we treat the influence of money in politics. Prior to McCutcheon v. FEC, no one contributor could give more than $125,000 in total campaign contributions to federal candidates. Very few Americans can even consider contributing more than $125,000 to politicians. Yet in 2013, Shaun McCutcheon, a coal industry CEO, challenged the law as violating his "freedom of speech."

People living near a contaminated government nuclear reactor complex in California were outraged to learn that the US Department of Energy (DOE) has secretly been funding a front group that is lobbying to see the agency abandon its cleanup agreement -- and that the DOE's request for secrecy may have been made to avoid attention from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California), who supports full cleanup.

As United States Energy Transfers Partners began building the Dakota Access Pipeline through territory sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, the tribe began an escalating campaign against the pipeline. By this summer nearly 200 tribes around the country had passed resolutions opposing the pipeline and many hundreds of their members joined nonviolent direct action to halt it. Amidst wide public sympathy for the Native American cause, environmental, climate protection, human rights, and many other groups joined the campaign. On September 9, the Obama administration intervened to temporarily halt the pipeline and open government-to-government consultations with the tribes.

Riohacha, La Guajira -- On October 2, 2016, the people of Colombia voted in a referendum to approve the peace accords brokered over four years by the government of President Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP). In the regions most affected by the conflict in Colombia, the victims forgave and voted "yes," hoping to open the doors for the much-sought-after peace. Some understood that to forgive does not mean to forget; rather, it is a step forward towards the construction of a different reality. In the Caribbean coast of Colombia, there was a resounding "yes" to peace. Nevertheless, the campaign managed by the so-called Democracy Center, spearheaded by ex-President Alvaro Uribe Velez took hold.

As the cost of health insurance and care continues to go up with little restraint by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the insurance industry is getting ever more creative in finding new revenue streams to cover gaps in coverage. The latest new market is to offer insurance to cover the cost of insurance. High deductibles have become a growing burden of out-of-pocket expenses for individuals, families, and employers. As one marker, deductibles for employer-sponsored health insurance have gone up by 255 percent over the last ten years.

A group of servers who serenade patrons at Time Square's Ellen's Stardust Diner have now formed a union with -- wait for it -- the Wobblies (a nickname for the Industrial Workers of the World). After they unionized earlier this year as Stardust Family United, owner Ken Strum essentially said, "Dream on," and wrecked the lives of more than 30 staffers by firing them. Now they are picketing outside the venue weekly while singing old union and railroad songs.